Nissan 350Z (2003-) Review

Comfort and Equipment

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Despite being oriented to sports driving, the 350Z is surprisingly comfortable, its well-damped suspension coping quietly and fairly smoothly with broken roads. The ride is firm, but you aren't jostled excessively and there is little bodyroll.

The seats are pretty comfortable too - though they could do with more lumbar support and the leather is a little slippery - and most of the time the Nissan is fairly quiet, wind and road noise being effectively quelled, though the engine is fairly vocal.

At a high-speed cruise, the Z is notably relaxed - its directional stability is excellent - and you can just about hold a conversation with your passenger in the Roadster with the roof down at 70-plus mph, though the stereo, even the optional Bose upgrade, struggles to be heard.

Considering its size and the fact that its cockpit is devoted to just two occupants, the Z isn't terribly spacious. Substantial cross-bracing of the body ahead of the boot means that the seats cannot slide rearwards as far as the tallest drivers would like, the boot itself isn't massive and this is intruded upon further by more cross-bracing, though the Roadster's load capacity compares well to its rivals' at 130 litres, usefully square-shaped.

There isn't much further stowage space either, but a bin and a couple of lidded rectangular boxes are awkwardly placed behind a seat (both seats if you don't order the Bose hi-fi). A sunglasses holder, a lidded cubby in the dash and trays on the seats' outer edges help, but there is no glovebox and narrow door bins don't help much.

There's space for Nissan's Birdview satellite navigation system in the centre of the dash. The Bose sound system, which adds three more speakers, the sub-woofer and a cassette deck, comes as part of the GT pack, though the standard six-CD, four-speaker set-up is actually very good anyway.